


careful creatures made friends with time

by tommyshepherdd (atimeforflores)



Category: House of M, Marvel, The Runaways, Young Avengers
Genre: Angst, Criminal AU, FBI AU, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-09-22 05:52:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9586643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atimeforflores/pseuds/tommyshepherdd
Summary: Agent Theodore Altman has been chasing an unknown criminal for most of his professional career. He feels like he's closing in on the culprit when things go horribly wrong.Months later, he is being wooed by a mysterious man who seems familiar. The only problem is that Teddy can't remember the last five years of his life.





	

Theodore Altman was a calm man. Theodore Altman  _ had  _ to be a calm man to work the job he did- it took someone with an extraordinary amount of patience to spend hours upon hours searching for one small clue in five years worth of case files. Theodore Altman had that special kind of patience, and it led him to the one small clue that blew his case wide open. 

 

The thing about his case was that he had been working for it for the entire five years it had existed. Sure, he took breaks when the trail seemed to go cold but eventually, as most criminals do, his guy would resurface. Theodore had actually been the one to see the similarities in the robberies that spanned six states and  _ made _ it a case. 

 

A young Caucasian male- with tanned skin, however -was always seen entering a extremely famous and well protected bank at 0902 in the morning. Exactly 17 minutes later an alarm would go off- usually a fire alarm, but occasionally an actual security alarm. By then, however, it was already too late. 

 

The man never took from those who needed their money- mostly from companies and well off, and well known, business tycoons. 

 

Every time there was a small device left behind- something more advanced than any expert had ever seen before- it had the capability to download the personal information in a matter of minutes. Most weren’t found until months later. 

 

The small clue that Theodore had found was that of a partial fingerprint, directly to the right of where the newest device was stored. It was sloppy, and questionable for a criminal of this skill, but it led right to one William Kaplan. 

 

William Kaplan was a 23 year old college graduate from Manhattan, New York. He worked as a volunteer at his local Jewish community center, and as an IT technician for a local law firm part-time. 

 

William Kaplan, also, did not exist. 

 

“Hi, William.” Theodore smiled at him. The younger male looked up, gazing at Theodore with soft brown eyes. He smiled back. “I’m Agent Altman, but you can call me Teddy if you’re more comfortable with that.”

 

“An actual agent?” William questioned. The newly-dubbed-Teddy recognized a slight accent- something that sounded Eastern European. Teddy wrote it down quickly, eyes never leaving William’s. “Whatever have I done that requires such a high ranking official?”

 

William is amused, Teddy can tell. His eyes sparkle and he pushed his dark hair out of his face. Teddy absentmindedly notices that William looks quite nice with curls. 

 

William had aged since the first low-res video that had been captured half a decade earlier. His hair was different- it seemed that the boy may have straightened when he was younger. If Teddy’s observations were correct, the nose ring was new too. 

 

“We’ve just noticed some discrepancies with your information and would like to clarify some things with you.” Teddy told him, folding his hands on top of the table in between them. 

 

“My information?” William gave him a smile, eyes turning cold, “I’m just wondering why you felt the need to look into my personal information in the first place? Am I being charged with a crime, Agent Altman?”

 

The hair on the back of Teddy’s neck rose, the feeling that he was being watched making him shiver.

 

“Of course not, William.” Teddy assured him. Teddy could hardly hear his own heartbeat over the roar of blood in his ears. It felt like he was in danger, like he was playing with fire while being doused in gasoline. 

 

William gave him a predator-like smile. Teddy could tell that he was the prey.  

 

“My name is William Kaplan.” William began, sliding his wallet out of his back pocket and onto the table, “I’m 23, and work a few part-time jobs. My mother was Rebecca Kaplan, and my father was Jeff Kaplan. They died in a car crash when I was 19. I live alone- unless you count my hamster as a roommate. I have two older brothers who I have not spoken with since our parents died. That’s about it, Agent Altman. Would you like me to recite my social and home address?”

 

The roaring in Teddy’s ears got louder. He couldn’t help himself, he curled in on himself. Hands coming over his head just in time, his world exploded into dust and smoke. It felt like forever until he could stretch out, though he knew it could only be seconds. 

 

William Kaplan, and the 32nd precinct of New York, were both gone. One disappeared in smoke, one was up in flames. Teddy felt blood in his hair, felt it start to pour down his face. 

 

The last thing he saw before he slipped into unconsciousness was two figures running from behind a ruined wall of what used to be the bathroom. They threw open the barely standing doors of the front, running into the light of the day before diving into an open car. 

 

…

  
Teddy woke to the sound of a police siren, to the feeling of people quickly moving his body and jostling him painfully. 

 

“This one’s alive!” He heard a woman shout, fingers prodding the dirty flesh of his throat. 

 

He opened his eyes some time later, falling into the unsteady movement of people around him, shouting about stabilizing him. The pain felt constant, precious moments being lost to it. 

 

When he was fully conscious, a man with silver hair was standing at the end of his hospital bed. The man’s expensive suit stood out against the fluorescent light of the hospital. He turned at Teddy’s groan, removing the sunglasses that were hiding bright blue eyes. 

 

“I apologize for the circumstances we’re meeting under, Agent Altman.” He said. Something about his voice struck Teddy as familiar. He couldn’t quite place it. “I was wishing that I could get to you before they did.” 

 

“It’s unlike Billy,” The man continued, walking closer to Teddy, “To break the toys that he likes. I suppose that Thomas was the one to make the explosive, however.”

 

Teddy’s eyes widened as he placed the man’s accent- it was a stronger version of William Kaplan’s. He tried to push away the sudden exhaustion that was taking over his body, tried to replace it with the fear he felt for the unknown man. 

 

“I am special agent Pietro Maximoff.” The man finally introduced himself. He looked as if he was thinking about extending his arm, before deciding against it. “And it looks like you’ve found my missing nephews.”

 

Teddy lost his battle with his consciousness, eyes sliding closed. 

 

The next time he awoke, the strange man was gone. 

  
So were Teddy’s memories of the past five years. 

**Author's Note:**

> who knows where this will go
> 
> my tumblr is gaysupersoldiers.tumblr.com
> 
> comments fuel me


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